


Pick a star on the dark horizon and follow the light

by Mimilou96



Category: 1D - Fandom, One Direction
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - College/University, Attraction at first sight, Cheeky Louis, Cute, Fluff, Heartbreak, Hipster Harry, Kissing, Louis broke up with Eleonor, M/M, No Sex, Post-Relationship, Romance, Strangers to Lovers, Tumblr Prompt, badboy louis, lol, nature friend Harry, partners in crime, read!, they are both idiots
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-01
Updated: 2015-10-01
Packaged: 2018-04-24 06:42:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,381
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4909231
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mimilou96/pseuds/Mimilou96
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For this tumblr prompt: “You’re trying to cut down a tree after a bad breakup bc you and your ex wrote your names on it. I decide to help”</p><p>Or: Louis is trying to kill a tree and Harry is an enraged lover of nature. Louis is too much of a cutie tho. Harry ends up helping him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pick a star on the dark horizon and follow the light

It was still quite early when Harry stumbled down the few awry stairs from his front door out onto the soppy pavement. The autumn outside welcomed him with clear, cold air that was almost burning the inside of his nose when Harry pulled in a deep, audible breath. 

The tall,young man soon shivered from the cold, a whole body shiver that left goosebumps in its wake, and quickly pulled the grey beanie he was wearing back over his pink ears from where it had rucked up. The world outside was still frozen and quiet, the streets empty. Nobody in the flat Harry shared with three others had been up when he had left and that seemed to apply to the whole block. All windows were dark and there were no movements, scents or sounds apart from a few cars rushing by in the distance. 

Students, as a general rule, weren't morning persons, but Harry kind of was. He liked getting ready in peace, without rushing and he loved to have time for yoga, breakfast and a chat before lectures. He enjoyed the quietness of his surroundings as he wandered through the slender street that connected the area of tiny houses reserved for students with the actual university campus and entered it from the back. 

He still had 1 hour before his 8am lecture started, but he had been up early to do yoga and now he was very hungry. Laying on his yellow mat on the wooden bedroom floor in his final yoga pose he had decided to buy himself a big and healthy breakfast at the uni canteen, maybe even a smoothie and some fruit for later. He was ready for the day, freshly showered and dressed in a lavender knitted jumper with dark blue jeans and a warm beanie covering his long brown curls. 

He reached the end of the street, rounded the corner and followed the trail that lead to the big uni buildings strewn all over the area. The place behind the campus and next to the parking lot was arranged as a little park with a tiny pond and lots of trees and grass. Harry liked it a lot and spent quite a bit of his freetime studying and hanging out with friends here, many people did. 

Now that it was autumn the yellowish leaves were crunching beneath his boot-cladded feet and the ground was damp and slowly but surely getting too cold to sit on. Soon the soil would freeze and all the plants would wear small coats of nip. But for now he enjoyed how clear and damp the air was and how deep it went into his lungs, which normaly felt only about three fourths full because of his light asthma, and since the whole area seemed empty he decided to walk a bit before entering the warm and stuffy canteen. 

He plucked his beaten ipod out of his pocket, detangled the cable and put the earplugs in. "Songbird" by Fleetwood Mac started up as he hit play and Harry's rosy bitten lips streched into a mentionable smile while he closed his green eyes in bliss for only a second. He had been to a Fleetwood Mac concert with his sister Gemma a few weeks ago and the emotions still came and lingered whenever he heard the familiar sounds. 

With a skip in his steps he started to walk briskly along the trees. A few ducks watched the gawky boy walk by sleepily and the first birds were already practicing their singing as the sun slowly got up. 

The activity woke Harry up further from his yoga induced dreamy relaxation and as he was half way around the pond he registered some strange movement out of the corner of his eye. 

It brought him out of his thoughts finally and immediately. 

He blinked, turned down the volume of his ipod and let his eyes wander over the area. Maybe a cat was vagabonding through the coppice? A squirrel perhaps? No. 

He squinted at the tree line that lay behind a popular area with picnic tables, usually overfull with students. 

Finally he made sense of the movement in the half-shadows: There was someone behind one of the trees! 

The curly haired man froze and watched as the figure, dressed completely in black like an actual shadow, moved from the back of the mingy tree to its front. The man was small and slim enough that the tree had been able to conceal him when he had stood behind it, but now, out in the morning sun, Harry saw that the man in the black hoodie was holding a small hand saw and worked on cutting off the tree. 

The metal glistened in the sun dangerously and even through the still blaring music in his ears Harry could hear the stranger grunt and swear. Abruptly he pulled his earplugs out of his ears, finally recovering from the shock that had had him stiff. His heart started beating faster, pulsing blood and adrenaline so hard through his body that he could feel it pounding in his fingertips. 

What was the man doing there? Destroying uni property? Hurting plants for fun?

"Fuck!" The man bluntly bleeped as he slipped, his voice high and airy like those of the birds. The swears were more clear now that the music was out and Harry stared as the strangers arm moved back and forth clumsily but faster now, the saw slowly eating itself through the wood.

Harry hesitated only for a few seconds but then started walking up to the man determindedly. He liked the park and he wouldn't watch someone ruin it, enviromentalism was something Harry took seriously!

He came closer. The man was still hunched over and grunting from the exertion and didn't even seem to notice that he had been exposed and was being watched, his front facing away from Harry. The taller man could only make out the mans rock candy coloured hair, parts of tanned skin and his toned but surprisingly luscious backside. The breathes leaving his mouths in short intervalls puffed into the clear air in clouds of white smoke that wavered around his head and his shaky hand saw squeaked quietly with every thrust, his arms bulging and shaking in his tight-fitting hoodie. He was quite attractive, someone Harry would definitively have remembered if he had seen him before and up and close the man didn't even seem that dangerous anymore, just cheeky. Should it still come to a fight he was at least a good bit smaller than Harry and quite out of breathe, a uni student just like Harry, as it seemed. But no matter how confident Harry felt: The other one still had a possible weapon, so Harry stopped a few steps away. Still the man showed no sign of reaction.

Harry clasped his hand behind his back awkwardly, cleared his throat and tried to sound intimidating as he finally spoke up and asked: "What do you think you are doing there, mate?" 

The smaller man jumped and let out an unmanly squeak that roused several birds from sleep who started peeping in excitement. He turned around quickly and hid the saw behind his back, sweat on his forehead and panic in his pretty blue eyes. He stared at Harry for a second as if he had seen a ghost, eyes gliding up his gangly figure from his boots to his curly hair and then slowly breathed out and put a hand over his heart, clearly relieved and not intimidated at all, which made Harry frown a bit.

"Wow. You nearly gave me an heartattack, mate. Quit sneaking around like a kitten. I thought you were a prof or something." He laughed and turned back around to resume his work, ignoring Harry, who opened his mouth, closed it again and finally settled for once again staring at the mans backside dumbly.

The sounds of the metal teeth rubbing against the tough wood again, helped him man up however, he cleared his throat again, angrier and more prominent this time.  
"You are killing a tree." He stated, cringing at how innocuous he sounded.  
"Duuuuh!!!" The other man laughed, he obviously really had the sentiment that Harry was like a little kitten showing teeth to seem hazardous. 

The saw continued to move but  
Harry stopped him with his hands this time, plucking the saw from his fingers easily and holding his wrists to inmobilize him, keeping him from moving and finally making his words sink in.  
"Stop!" He said again, firmly, his voice deep and raw. "Please."  
"What the hell. No. What's wrong with you, pal?" The other man gruffed in anger, understanding Harry's motives now.

He tried to move his hands out of Harry's grip but was stopped by Harry who was obviously stronger. Ha! Harry preened inwardly. Who was the kitten now?  
"No! I won't allow that you destroy the tree. Trees are important. They clean the air we are breathing, did you know? And I want you to stop killing this one! I like the park the way it is." He said instead, staring into the icy blue eyes of his opponent.  
The man just rolled his eyes.  
"Killing a tree haha! Very funny. I laughed, can you let me go now?." He joked, but as he saw the angry look on Harry's face he decided to explain.

"Look. I like the park and the trees and mother earth. Maybe not as much as you do, but I care, ok?. It's just this goddamn tree that has to go, alright?"  
Harry was confused.  
"Why? What did it do to you?!" He frowned and loosened the grip on the other mans warm wrists.  
"I'll show you!" 

The man detangled their arms easily and dusted off the bits of saw dust that covered the stem of the small tree.  
"There! See that?" He showed him the small heart that had been scratched into the wood with a knife or something sharp.  
"E + L 4ever" Harry read, his eyebrows furrowed.  
"Exactly!" The man stated.  
"I'm L. Which stands for Louis, by the way. And E is my ex-girlfriend Eleonor who is a bitch that cheated on me with that hipster Max Hurd! She broke up with me last week. We were together for MONTHS and they had a thing going on the whole fucking time. And this goddamn tree reminds me of how much of an idiot I am whenever I walk past, which is every fucking day."  
"Oh" Harry breathed out in shock. "I'm sorry. That sucks."

Louis looked relieved but more and more unhappy and down with every second so the curly haired lifted up the saw and sent an unsure smile in Louis direction.  
"Want me to help you? The tree is small and so ugly anyway. I don't think anyone would miss it." He offered.  
"Really??? You want to help me?" Louis asked with a choked laugh, voice small and eyes big.  
"Yes" Harry laughed. "My boyfriend broke up with me 2 months ago too and I know how it feels. I wanna do this with you."  
"Niiice! Let's do this then!" Louis motivation and mirth was back and they picked up the saw and moved towards the tree.  
"Oh and sorry because of the boyfriend thing." Louis said.  
Harry shrugged.  
"Was an asshole anyway. I'm not sad."

They started moving the saw back and forth, Louis using both hands while Harry kept the small stem upright with one of his hands and helped Louis with the other. Their bodies were close and Louis' soft skin moving against his created small fountains of joy and lust in Harry's brain. God, was this guy attractive. 

In the end they were much faster than Louis had been on his own and a few minutes later it was finally done. The top of the tree was cut off, fell over and laid at their feet.

"Wohoo." Louis cheered. "That was awesome. Really satisfying too." He kicked the tree for good measure.  
Harry giggled and was just about to ask Louis if he wanted to get out of the park to get some coffee as he heard noises. 

He looked nervously at the few students starting to trickle into the park in the distance, still too far away to see them.  
"Quick! We need to hide this and vanish from here!" He hissed, poking Louis to get him moving.

Together they grabbed the tree and dragged it into the bushes.  
Leaves and sticks scratched at their hands, clothes and faces but they managed it and finally all three (Harry, Louis and the tree) were hidden from view.

"Uffff." Louis wheezed airily as he straightend up from his crouch, lifting one end of the stem up to inspire the faded initals. "It can stay here, I think. Nobody will find it."

He was awfully close to Harry now and the curly haired finally had the time to admire the bright blue eyey, the caramel hair and his curvy figure for more than just a few moments as the smaller man tampered with the tree, scraping away the bark where the heart had been with the saw. He gulped.  
Louis noticed his quietness and looked up from his work.

"What's your name anyway?" He said, the skin around his eyes crinkling slightly as he pinched his eyes closed a tiny bit to inspect Harry in the bad lighting.  
"'M Harry. Harry Styles." Harry responded huskily, a blush forming on his cheeks.

"Well... It was nice to kill and hide a tree with you, Harry Styles." Louis joked with laughter ringing in his voice.  
"Yeah, pleasure." Harry responded earnestly, nodding. 

It went quiet around them. Only the birds holding a conversation now. They stared into eachothers eyes, still close to eachother.

Harry cleared his throat and rocked back on the balls of his feet.  
"What does a man have to do so that you would scratch his name into a heart on a tree?"

Louis smiled and crowded him against a close tree.

"You are quite eager, Harold. How about we start with a kiss and a date?"  
"Deal!" Harry exclaimed, already engrossed in the depths of Louis' eyes.

And then their lips met.

**Author's Note:**

> Leave me kudos and comments if you liked it.


End file.
